


he thinks he's seen it all

by ditty (Triple_A)



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Happy Ending, Other, sorta idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21654694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Triple_A/pseuds/ditty
Summary: Allen is 43 years old, and he's seen shit. He's dealt with a lot of people. He's had to kill a lot of people. Even the most unlikely person can be dangerous, and he's learned that lesson again and again. He doesn't do executions, but he does cleanups, and in the past twenty-four hours, he's deactivated more androids than he can count.But never, in all his goddamn life, did he think he'd be looking down the barrel at a family.
Relationships: Captain Allen & Alice Williams (Detroit: Become Human), Kara & Alice Williams (Detroit: Become Human), Kara & Luther & Alice Williams (Detroit: Become Human)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 69





	he thinks he's seen it all

**Author's Note:**

> happy birthday allen! you do not look 43 whatsoever in the context of the game but!

Allen is 43 years old (going on 44), and he's seen shit. He's dealt with a lot of people. He's had to kill a lot of people. Even the most unlikely person can be dangerous, and he's learned that lesson again and again. He doesn't do executions, but he does cleanups, and in the past twenty-four hours, he's deactivated more androids than he can count.  
  
But never, in all his goddamn life, did he think he'd be looking down the barrel at a family.  
  
(A _family_ , of all things. Parents. A kid. Terrified and angry and wanting nothing more than to survive, he can see it in the way they're huddled together. Locked together like they might all disappear if they aren't.)  
  
They're all androids. He half-wishes he didn't know that, but he can see clearly it from the scan in his visor. TR400, "LUTHER". AX400, "KARA". And, worst of all, a YK model. YK500. "ALICE".  
  
(He hated YK models the most. If he didn't hate them before, he hated them now, hated them for the way they screamed and cried like real children as they were pulled away from other androids or humans. The way they still looked so chillingly like real children when they were lying limp and deactivated.)  
  
(He also hated the ones that didn't cry, that weren't afraid, that stared back at the barrel with all the anger/resignment/sadness of a weathered veteran. Like they accepted what was coming. Like they had simply seen too much to fight back.)  
  
(He couldn't decide which one was worse.)  
  
They're crouched behind a car, these three androids. The TR shields the other two with arms wrapped tightly around them. The YK has hands clenched tightly in the jackets of both "adult" androids and watches him with fear. With anger, too. But without tears.  
  
The AX stares back at him with a face that fights expression, but something in its cheek jumps. Like it's doing its best not to show fear.  
  
(Fucking deviants, and their fucking ridiculous human simulations.)  
  
The AX is clearly the most dangerous, half-crouched in a pounce, fingers flexing like its about to grab a weapon or just shape into a fist. It's not a combat model, he can easily just pull a trigger and take it out now before it can even move. Take them all out, while he's at it.  
  
The deviants were dangerous. He's lost good men already. He doesn't want to lose more.  
  
But he also can't pull the trigger.  
  
"Captain!"  
  
Foxtrot is calling for him, probably with another hesitant question. Allen doesn't know the guy's actual name, doesn't remember it. All he knows is that he's green, a rookie of a replacement for Charles, who died barely a day ago. Shot by his own gun during the Jericho raid.  
  
"What?" He doesn't turn all the way to the approaching man, keeping one eye on the three androids. "What is it?"  
  
"What do we do with non-deviant androids?" Foxtrot asks. He hasn't approached close enough to notice the family, standing awkwardly in the middle of the street as he is. "I know the orders were shoot on sight, but this one says it's registered. It's wearing the indicators and everything too."  
  
"The orders were clear. If it's an android, take it out. The owners can get reimbursed later." Allen says curtly. In front of him, he can distinctly see the AX's hand curl into a fist, see its jaw clench. "Is that all?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"Go on then."  
  
Foxtrot departs. Allen returns to the task at hand. For all the pointlessness of the question, it at least helped to remind Allen of the order given. Eliminate any android on the streets.  
  
(No more Charles's. No more Phillips's.)  
  
These three certainly fit the bill. He raises the gun, and-  
  
"My name is Alice!"  
  
The YK stands up, jerking out of the hold of the TR. It looks like an 8-year old girl. It reminds him of Emma.  
  
"Alice, get _behind me-_ " The AX says through grit teeth. Alice doesn't. It steps and steps until it's right in front of Allen, the barrel of the shotgun in its face. Allen fights the urge to jerk the gun away.  
  
"My name is Alice. I've been activated for five years. I'm registered to a man called Todd Williams," It continues, talking quickly. Its bottom lip trembles but it doesn't cry (Allen hates YK models, hated the ones that didn't cry especially) "Todd smoked and sold Red Ice and hurt me. He blamed me for his problems. And then he would say he was sorry and then hurt me again."  
  
Why the hell was Allen listening? It's just an android. Plastic and machinery and shit. He shifts the gun on his shoulder.  
  
"Kara took care of me. She took care of Todd too. She tried to protect me when Todd hit me. Todd broke her again and again whenever she did." Alice didn't stop, kept on talking like its life depended on it. "She took me with her when she ran away. We met Luther. Luther was being hurt by a man named Zlatko."  
  
The TR's face flickers for an instant from calm to something tight, emotional. Alice didn't stop talking.  
  
"Zlatko liked to hurt androids. He liked to take them apart and put them together in ways that broke them. He wanted to do that to me. He would've done it to all of us if we didn't run." Allen didn't know the name. Zlatko. But Luther's hand tightens like Kara's and he suspects if both of them still had LEDs, they would be red. Red in deviancy. Red in warning. "We met Rose. Rose is a human. She's really nice. She helped us run to Jericho. We had to run from Jericho too."

Allen knows. He remembers the hordes of androids that jumped from the ships, into the waters. The androids that collapsed and begged under the hail of bullets, or else fought back, one android capable of taking at least two good soldiers if it was determined enough. He remembers.

"We ran from Jericho. Now we're running again. We want to go to Canada. We want to be free." Alice's shoulders drop, losing tension. Something desperate replaces the hard edge of determination on her face. "I'm...I'm so tired of running. I'm tired of being scared all the time. I don't want to run anymore."  
  
"You'll die if you won't." Allen says quietly, voice distorted through his helmet. It's the first thing he's said to an android since meeting that one prototype. RK800-something. Connor.  
  
"I'll die if you decide to shoot me. Am I alive?" Alice asks, now crying, tears tracking silently down its...her's? Its? Face. "I love Kara and Luther. I like being happy. I don't want to hurt anymore. But I'm also tired of running."

Her hand finds Luther's. Her other hand finds Kara's.

He grinds his teeth behind his visor. He remembers the Phillips and Charles and Bucky and all the other people killed by deviants. It feels like betrayal to just...let them go. He has orders.   
  
(He's 43, he's seen a lot of shit. He's never seen anything like this, a nine-year old girl that's seen more than he can comprehend, standing in front of him with tears on her face. Scared out of her wits. Not backing down.)  
  
(Staring down the barrel of his own gun.)  
  
He's 43. Allen has done a lot of things. Executions weren't one of them.  
  
"Dammit!" He curses, and pushes on the trigger. The bullets unload into the cement sidewalk, sending splinters and dust into a small cascade. "Fine! You're gonna have to run one more time, kid, and you better do it fast before someone else gets back here. I didn't fucking see you, okay? And you better not cause any trouble for anyone else, or I'll swear to god...get the fuck out of here!"  
  
Alice blinks, but Luther doesn't need to be told twice, grabbing her and Kara and pulling them backwards and away from Allen. They run, Alice pulled along between them. She looks over her shoulder as they turn the corner, and Allen could swear she mouths ' _thank you_ '.

_Christ._ He pulls off his helmet to wipe at his face, the wintry air cold and biting, and turns away. He was going to need some hard drinks later to deal with all this bullshit.

_Fucking deviants. A_ family _, of all things_.

He hopes that they make it.

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know how to tag this
> 
> (join us! at the [new era](https://discord.gg/4BUz4Fz) discord! i make these people sad sometimes)


End file.
